HiroTheJapaneseTrain
Also known under the name of MTwillman from his older channel, HiroTheJapaneseTrain (aka Matt) has been a dedicated content creator within the TWRC for over a decade, and is the last remaining user from the first year of the TWRC. He runs a series called Sodor Stories and is currently working on a film called Friedrich the German Engine. He is known for his work with customs, voice acting, and other community activities. He contributes to the Thomas Creator Collective and was also a member of TWR Community Radio. Pre-MTwillman Matt had an account named HarveySaltyFergus1 made in 2006. He made a few brief shorts on this channel. They were ultimately deleted upon the emergence of MTwillman, but who knows who could have seen them and got inspired by this that would later inspire us all. MTwillman Matt's former channel. It all started with a simple unboxing review of the recently released Stanley of 2008. MTwillman was the primary account of HiroTheJapaneseTrain until the Google takeover of YouTube sometime around 2010, when the account became inaccesible due to its lack of connection with a Google account. The backup account, HiroTheJapaneseTrain managed to continue to be accessed, so it became the primary account. The videos and projects made under MTwillman can still be viewed, as the account is still open. He wouldn't recommend you go watch them, though--they are not a pretty sight. Hiatus HiroTheJapaneseTrain has had a few occasions where he would be offline for months at a time, or would spend lots of time not uploading new videos. This was due to a busy schedule, inability to film (camera troubles, storage problems) and personal endeavors. As a result, the layouts seldom changed, and they gathered dust. Occasionally a new video would come out, but not too often. This led to several periods of the channel not being used until around January 2014, when the last hiatus (the one year hiatus of 2013) came to a close. He regrets missing all of that time in 2013, but is just glad to be back now and better than ever! HiroTheJapenese/JapaneseTrain Since his return in 2014, Matt plans to keep a somewhat regular schedule about how he manages his filmmaking. Matt also joined the TWR Community Radio channel with the show Getting With The Times. For a while, Matt's channel name was misspelled, which was a constant source of ridicule from some of his friends like MrMPS2002, but Matt eventually got the channel name changed to the correct spelling. Personal Endeavors One of the main reasons for Matt's hiatus was the planning behind a live action WW2 short film, The Life of a Soldier, which ceased production due to the destruction of the film site. Only camera tests exist. While in high school, he created a group channel with his friends called DeviousAppleProductions. Few videos came out of it, and eventually production became an individual pursuit on Matt's hand. Working with a film colleague, Nick Menendez, the duo created videos which received a glowing reception from the school, including a WWII film. Sodor Stories The series of HiroTheJapaneseTrain. Starting off slow, and developing throughout its first season--Sodor Stories is a mixture of several ideas, characters and realism all in one channel! Sodor Stories includes 10 episode seasons followed by a special movie event after each season. For Season 1 of Sodor Stories, that would be ''Friedrich the German Engine, ''which is currently in production. Season 1 was delayed quite a bit, and Season 2 is slated to be in production starting in the fall of 2017. SEASON 1: *Adversity *Tommy the Tank Engine *Bill and the Lorry *Airborne Emergency * Percy and the Milk * Cliffhanger * Spooks at the Scrapyard * Dennis the Menace * The Sad Story of Samson (Multi-part) * The Sudrian Blizzard SEASON 2 (TBD): * Thomas, Percy, and the Battleship * Falcon and Smudger * Memories * North Western Blue * The Sleeping Giant * Stepney and Bertie * A Lesson in Hubris * A Celtic Conundrum * Unwelcome * Bulstrode Returns HTJT Customs Starting out as a side project, Matt's customs eventually became something which has gained him notoriety within the TWRC and TTTE fandom at large. When the Thomas & Friends special "The Great Race" came out, his customs were created at a much faster rate, to replicate many of the international engines Mattel did not make. One can follow on with the latest updates on customs with the Twitter hashtag #HTJTCustoms * Lord Harry/Patrick/No.6 * LBSC Thomas (Brown) * Glynn * Troublesome Trucks (Several) * Scrap Engines * LNER Raven A2 Class * Ryan 2.0 * RWS Duck & Oliver * Bear * Étienne * Yong Bao * Axel * Ivan * Slip Coaches * Fred (Coming Soon) * Pip & Emma (Coming Soon) * RWS Stanley (Coming Soon) * Liz (Coming Soon) Wooden Road & Rail Reviews The review series in which HiroTheJapaneseTrain takes some items (sometimes random, sometimes new or rare) and give his opinions on the items, rating them and showing them off to the camera! Installments include: * Luke * Winston * Aquarium Cars * Big City Engine * Knockoffs * Flying Scotsman * Porter * Timothy and Gator * Hiro's Sticky Spill * BRIO Stepney * Samson * Culdee * Sam * Brendam Bay Shipping Set * Ryan *Mike *Skiff *Bert *2016 Bertram *Frieda *Vinnie Friedrich The German Engine The first Sodor Stories special! It follows the story of a large German goods engine, Friedrich. Friedrich was built during the days of military industrial expansion during the earliest breaths of the newborn Third Reich. His life was happy, but then he gets caught into the death rows of WW2. Friedrich is ultimately traumatized by the events of war, including numerous bombings, leaving him a shell of his former self. Years pass, and he winds up on Sodor, and finds himself under the judging eyes of the Sudrian engines. With Thomas, he tries to cope but even Thomas finds himself under the judgment of engines such as Gordon, who had lived through the war himself. The film is slated to be released anytime during 2016. Category:2008 Category:Current Members